Arguably, the most cost effective and speedy way of spreading information (and disinformation) is now via social media. But can we build a climate saving viral ad campaign budget in just 48 hours?

Social Media channels enable us to engage with others who care about a cause and to therefore promote change, through the building of awareness amongst a wider population. As with the BBC charter, one way to engage is to Entertain, which Al Gore’s early Inconvenient Truth and the more recent follow-up starring Pete Postlethwaite in ‘The Age of Stupid’, have both sought to do in the name of halting dangerous climate change. The former movie was a little ahead of the social media curve, but the latter of these two was a largely viral movement seeded out by those who worked in the industry and aimed to see Age of Stupid hit the big screens across the world. If there was any doubt as to his own commitment to the cause then this interview in which star of the show, Pete Postlethwaite offers to hand back his OBE unless change comes, is fairly concrete – see his challenge to Ed Miliband here

It seems to me that the average person in the street tends to approach climate change moving through the various states of: 1) abject denial, followed by 2) sheer panic upon realisation of the magnitude of the problem, and then 3) often settling back to another denial focused around a refusal to accept personal responsibility.. a “what can ‘I’, one person do, in the face of such a monumental task?” ethos, that is frighteningly mainstream, if completely understandable.

However, through entities such as EcoTube (the Green version of Youtube with over 850 films online about issues facing our civilisation today) we can all now disseminate video and other information to increase understanding and build momentum in the face of an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness and inertia that threatens societies ability to act to halt the worst of climate change.

We can create action through social media even for those who wish to engage no more deeply than a bit of curbside recycling, the odd Fairtrade cup of coffee, a few taps on the keyboard and a £1 coin…yes, even if that is you, you still have the power to create meaningful social change for the Global good – just hit ‘forward’.

There is an NGO group, Avvaz, who have created their own rapid response climate television ad, spoofing the world’s largest oil company ExxonMobil’s own advertising. Their request is that you join their campaign to raise the ad budgets to take this ad live: “If we can raise just $100,000 in the next 48 hours CNN and other stations will run our ad on high rotation for the President’s entire climate meeting. With $200,000 we can buy even more airtime and continue this vital campaign at strategic moments. :